Again, the lights

Opinion: Editorials

Tuesday, June 17th, 2014 10:00 PM

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Oak Park and River Forest High School is readying a proposal to take to the Oak Park village board which would allow the school to annually add one more night football game at the Lake Street stadium if the Huskies get so lucky as to make the playoffs.

"Friday Night Lights" was a classic Oak Park battle — by which we mean long, inane and filled with NIMBY fear-mongering. Neighbors of the high school, which would include those people who chose to purchase a home immediately adjacent to a 3,200-student school, howled at the imposition of a handful of night football games. Light spilling into the nurseries of infants and rowdies taking over the neighborhood were the two main overblown fears when this issue boiled a half-decade back.

The school has taken its request for one more game out to the neighbors as it properly should have done. Officials report concerns from some percentage of those nearby. We'd urge neighbors to chill, to grab their parkas and join the fun. We'd also urge village trustees to simply vote in favor of this idea and not ship it off to some committee for review. Avoiding faux controversies is one of the ways the village can maintain its focus.

Wow, is WJ having a superslow news week?!? Trying to make news inciting people around something that isn't all that newsworthy? Like in the early lights discussions, WJ pre-emptively insults and goads objectors while minimizing lights usage as if it is about 3 or 4 football games a year. ( OPRF originally asked for over 80 nights/yr & was granted Lights-On 60 nights.) We all want to support the students success. And we can probably do it within that agreement. No news there WJ, sorry

Just Wondering from Oak Park, Illinois

Posted: June 18th, 2014 9:27 AM

Is there a sudden compelling new need to overturn the previous compromise, which did already allow for an additional playoff game under the lights? Making the slope slippery again undermines groups' incentives to reach compromise, and would be bad public policy.

Give me a break

Posted: June 18th, 2014 9:10 AM

What do you expect when you move across a school or park?

Yes I Am a Neighbor from Oak Park

Posted: June 18th, 2014 8:59 AM

...and I purchased my home before the intrusion of lights from the Lake Street field and the Stadium field were even discussed. And I have the right to defend my home, my solitude and my neighborhood. And I will.

Bridgett from Oak Park

Posted: June 17th, 2014 11:38 PM

"The school has taken its request for one more game out to the neighbors as it properly should have done." Really? I live right across from the stadium, and I wasn't contacted. This is the first I've heard of it.